The prognostic implications of chromosomal findings in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

The clinical importance of chromosome studies of leukemic tissue at diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia lies in the relationship between different chromosomal findings and prognoses. First demonstrated in 1978 [1], this relationship has been confirmed in a number of subsequent reports [2-9]. The independence of chromosomal findings from other prognostic features in predicting long-term response to treatment is now established [2-5, 7-9]. In children, a good or bad prognosis can be predicted only when a chromosomally abnormal cell line is identified. Differential prognosis, then, depends on the nature of the abnormality. In adults, as in children, the kind of abnormal clone, when present, is of some value prognostically. In addition, however, unlike the situation in children, the best prognosis in adults is associated with the chromosomally normal group.